GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – SpartanNash was recently honored as a 2020 Gold Plate Awards recipient by the FMI Foundation, recognizing SpartanNash’s “Family Meals at Home” campaign as an outstanding program to encourage families to stay strong with family meals. SpartanNash received the Gold Plate Award in the 50-199 stores retail category.
“We are honored to have been recognized for our efforts to promote family meals at home,” SpartanNash EVP and Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer Lori Raya said. “At SpartanNash, we’re proud to do our part to support our store guests and make family meals easier. Our stores are stocked with ingredients to make it easier for time-starved families to enjoy a quick and easy meal together – all at budget-friendly prices.”
During Family Meals Month in September, SpartanNash – through its Family Fare, Martin’s Super Markets, D&W Fresh Market, VG’s Grocery and Dan’s Supermarket stores – ran an omnichannel, month-long campaign focused on the entire family meal process. With the theme “Family Meals at Home,” SpartanNash provided encouragement, resources and inspiration to empower customers to turn any meal into a family meal.
“Eating and cooking together at home has a multitude of benefits for everyone involved, including improved psychological health, nutrition habits, life skills and financial wellness,” SpartanNash Health and Wellness Specialist and Registered Dietitian Deanna Scheid said. “During September 2020, when store guests were continuing to adjust to COVID-19 guidelines, SpartanNash found new ways to encourage family meals at home through virtual cooking demos, digital coloring books and family meal guides, fueling the mind and body of everyone involved. Having family meals can bring families together and be a catalyst of strength and connection.”
The “Family Meals at Home” campaign consisted of an influencer-driven program, recipe and cooking tips on social media, a digital recipe catalog, a family meals cooking video series, media exposure, bagged family meals in stores, a Kids Crew Family Meals coloring book and a family meal guide magazine that was distributed in more than 150 SpartanNash stores in nine states.
Through weekly ad circulars, local TV segments, recipes and social media, SpartanNash attained more than 11.5 million printed ad impressions, 22,000 media campaign impressions and 2 million Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest impressions. Virtual cooking sessions with easy-to-follow recipes and instructions to aide cooking fatigue reached more than 15,000 families. Overall, SpartanNash’s downloadable coloring book to get kids involved in the cooking process and excited about family meals reached more than 14 million people.
“The Gold Plate Awards highlight the outstanding work the food industry is doing as part of the Family Meals Movement,” said David Fikes, executive director of the FMI Foundation. “Family meals help us stay strong by boosting fruit and vegetable consumption and connectiveness, which support overall personal health. The food industry continues to provide shoppers creative and easy meal solutions as families face new shopping and meal habits brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In 2017, SpartanNash earned the FMI Gold Plate Award for its support of Family Meals Month in addition to its 2020 award.
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About SpartanNash
SpartanNash (Nasdaq: SPTN) is a Fortune 400 company whose core businesses include distributing grocery products to a diverse group of independent and chain retailers, its corporate-owned retail stores and U.S. military commissaries and exchanges; as well as operating a premier fresh produce distribution network. SpartanNash serves customer locations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Europe, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Djibouti. SpartanNash currently operates 154 supermarkets, primarily under the banners of Family Fare, Martin’s Super Markets, D&W Fresh Market, VG’s Grocery and Dan’s Supermarket. Through its MDV military division, SpartanNash is a leading distributor of grocery products to U.S. military commissaries.
